I am in the market for a short wave radio to replace my 29-Year-Old Panasonic (which still works). I am looking for sensitivity and sound and price is not an issue. Would prefer a digital radio with the ability to tweak between frequencies as an analog would. Is there such an animal?
Also, please answer the poll if you have a SW radio as part of your preps.
Do You Have A Short Wave Radio?
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ponder
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bobpick
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Toepopper
- Patriot ⭐ Construction, Shelter
- Posts: 1234
- Joined: 16 Aug 2007 12:03
- Location: Southwest Oregon
Yes, I have a 25 year old JVC portable short wave / AM / FM receiver that can run on 110 house current or 12 volt DC (car battery). It has served me well during the last quarter century and I moniter the S.W. waves almost every night. I also have a Radio Stick portable programable police scanner with Federal alphabet soup agency freqs and the usual local sheriff and police broadcasts. This unit picks up chit chat between jet passenger planes and airport control towers.
I think a Faraday cage is a good idea. I store my radio gear in a small galvanized garbage can with a tight fitting lid, which is placed into a larger galvanized garbage can "" "" "". These are stored in a reinforced concrete cellar and I am guessing that the rebar in this structure will act like another Faraday cage and help deflect any potential electro magnetic pulse waves headed my way. I built this room using #5 rebar (5/8" dia.) on 8"centers so it is pretty beefy.
I am interested in hearing any opinions on this subject. It will do no good to spend money on electronic equipment if the stuff fails to function the first time you truely need it.
Toepopper
I think a Faraday cage is a good idea. I store my radio gear in a small galvanized garbage can with a tight fitting lid, which is placed into a larger galvanized garbage can "" "" "". These are stored in a reinforced concrete cellar and I am guessing that the rebar in this structure will act like another Faraday cage and help deflect any potential electro magnetic pulse waves headed my way. I built this room using #5 rebar (5/8" dia.) on 8"centers so it is pretty beefy.
I am interested in hearing any opinions on this subject. It will do no good to spend money on electronic equipment if the stuff fails to function the first time you truely need it.
Toepopper
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bobpick
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ponder
"Ooops, guilty. The only one without. That was going to be one of my purchases in the coming year. Even with my supplies in another state, I have no radio. But I will be learning more about them so I know what I am looking for when the time comes"
You may already have one of the best radios made - the automobile radio. Its FM & AM bands are the most widely used. It also has a sensitive front end receiver.
The CB is probably the second most available transceiver available.
You may already have one of the best radios made - the automobile radio. Its FM & AM bands are the most widely used. It also has a sensitive front end receiver.
The CB is probably the second most available transceiver available.
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bobpick
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cowboy38229
Faraday cage
You may have already done this but you didn't say in your post. I would insulate the two cans from each other ,like putting styrofoam under and around the smaller can so it wouldn't ground to the bigger can and the same for the radio equipment in the small can. I could be wronge but thats my thoughts.Toepopper wrote:Yes, I have a 25 year old JVC portable short wave / AM / FM receiver that can run on 110 house current or 12 volt DC (car battery). It has served me well during the last quarter century and I moniter the S.W. waves almost every night. I also have a Radio Stick portable programable police scanner with Federal alphabet soup agency freqs and the usual local sheriff and police broadcasts. This unit picks up chit chat between jet passenger planes and airport control towers.
I think a Faraday cage is a good idea. I store my radio gear in a small galvanized garbage can with a tight fitting lid, which is placed into a larger galvanized garbage can "" "" "". These are stored in a reinforced concrete cellar and I am guessing that the rebar in this structure will act like another Faraday cage and help deflect any potential electro magnetic pulse waves headed my way. I built this room using #5 rebar (5/8" dia.) on 8"centers so it is pretty beefy.
I am interested in hearing any opinions on this subject. It will do no good to spend money on electronic equipment if the stuff fails to function the first time you truely need it.
Toepopper
and your suggestion makes a lot of sense. I have some old 2" thick styrofoam insulation and will cut a piece to fit in between the 2 cans. Thanks for the tip.-
cowboy38229
Years ago i dabled with side band radio's .I could talk long distance with no problem,3 to 4 hundred miles on a regular basis on a base antennae, but thru the years have gotten rid of my side bands while driving a truck and all i have left is AM CBs .
A side band radio, a mobile antennae and a 12 volt battery would be excellent for long range communications.
My neighbor i went to school with has a backhoe and said he would dig me a hole as big as i wanted but I also suffer from a monitary short comming since I rolled over my semi last summer and havent been able to scronge enough material to build a root celler/shelter. But I keep looking.
A side band radio, a mobile antennae and a 12 volt battery would be excellent for long range communications.
My neighbor i went to school with has a backhoe and said he would dig me a hole as big as i wanted but I also suffer from a monitary short comming since I rolled over my semi last summer and havent been able to scronge enough material to build a root celler/shelter. But I keep looking.
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whitewolf
WOW YOU DONT KNOW HOW BLESSED YOU ARE THAT YOUR NEIGHBOR IS WILLING TO DIG IT FOR YOU , ALSO THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT SINGLE SIDE BAND IS THAT THE GOVT WONT BE MONITORING THOSE FREQUENCIES LIJKE THE REGULAR HAM FREQS, AND YOU DONT NEED A LICENSE, , ALSO YOU COULD STAY IN TOUCH WITH A LOT MORE (GOOD PEOPLE , LIKE MINDED, OR OF LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH, KINDRED SPIRIT )
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Toepopper
- Patriot ⭐ Construction, Shelter
- Posts: 1234
- Joined: 16 Aug 2007 12:03
- Location: Southwest Oregon
Where can I get one of these side band radios? I am pretty sure that they are outlawed here in the Peoples Socialist Republic Of Kalifornia, along with just about everything else. I guess there are freaquencies in between the regular 40 channels; is that correct? If so, then why are these freaqs capeable of getting out to such a long distance?
About 5 years ago I bought a CC Radio Plus from C Crane company in CA. It is strictly an AM/FM receiver but has been an awesome performer. It is built by Sangean in Taiwan (which I find 
acceptable). The C Crane company just came out with a new SW model (the CC Radio Plus SW) which I am looking into at http://ccrane.com I also keep a wind-up version on hand.
acceptable). The C Crane company just came out with a new SW model (the CC Radio Plus SW) which I am looking into at http://ccrane.com I also keep a wind-up version on hand.“Conspiracy Theories Are Wisps of Smoke From Fires That Cannot Be Seen” - The Watchman (2024)
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cowboy38229
EBAY,truck stops ,anywhere that sells CB radios. Their not illegal just a little more expensive than regular CBs.Toepopper wrote:Where can I get one of these side band radios? I am pretty sure that they are outlawed here in the Peoples Socialist Republic Of Kalifornia, along with just about everything else. I guess there are freaquencies in between the regular 40 channels; is that correct? If so, then why are these freaqs capeable of getting out to such a long distance?
Regular CBs when you key the mike you get a carrier or signal that your voice rides on ,kinda. On sideband you don't have a carrier or signal output,it just transmites your voice. And since their aren't a 1,000 different carriers clashing against one another and causing static these frequency's are much quieter plus not that many people use them.
On regular CBs the legal power output is 4 watts on ssb its 12 watts.
SSB stands for single side band . On CBs you have 40 channels,with ssb you have the regular 40 plus upper side band and lower side band for each of the regular 40 channels , so you have 120 channels instead of just 40.
Two of my favorite SSB radios are Cobra 148 GTL and Uniden President Grant, actually the same radio made by different companies but the 148 has a cheaper price tag. Hope this helps answer your question and not confuse anyone more.
This is my second time to write this last night i hit preveiw instead of submit and shut it down
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whitewolf
THE ABILITY TO TRANSMIT LONG DISTANCES IS NOT SO MUCH IN THE
CHOICE OF FREQUENCY THAT YOU USE BUT IN THE WAY THE RADIO
OPERATES, S.S.B., ACTUALLY, USES FREQUENCY MODULATION ( SAME
PRINCIPALS USED IN THE EARLY MOON TO EARTH MISSIONS OF NASA,
CB., USES AMPLITUDE MODULATION LIKE REGULAR AM. RADIO,
BOB,
CHOICE OF FREQUENCY THAT YOU USE BUT IN THE WAY THE RADIO
OPERATES, S.S.B., ACTUALLY, USES FREQUENCY MODULATION ( SAME
PRINCIPALS USED IN THE EARLY MOON TO EARTH MISSIONS OF NASA,
CB., USES AMPLITUDE MODULATION LIKE REGULAR AM. RADIO,
BOB,
Thanx for all the information! I have got to get one of these and by some strange coincidence the C. Crane Company is located about 60 miles north of my pos in the small town of Fortuna. Next time I make a feed run up that way I will scope them out.-
cowboy38229
FM
In telecommunications, frequency modulation (FM) conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its frequency (contrast this with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant). In analog applications, the instantaneous frequency of the carrier is directly proportional to the instantaneous value of the input signal. Digital data can be sent by shifting the carrier's frequency among a set of discrete values, a technique known as frequency-shift keying.
AM
Single-sideband modulation (SSB) is a refinement of amplitude modulation that more efficiently uses electrical power and bandwidth. It is closely related to vestigial sideband modulation (VSB) (see below).
Amplitude modulation produces a modulated output signal that has twice the bandwidth of the original baseband signal. Single-sideband modulation avoids this bandwidth doubling, and the power wasted on a carrier, at the cost of somewhat increased device complexity.
The first U. S. patent for SSB modulation was applied for on 1 December, 1915 by John Renshaw Carson. Patent 1,449,382, titled "Method and Means for Signaling with High Frequency Waves" was awarded to Carson on March 27, 1923 and assigned to AT&T.
The U.S. Navy experimented with SSB over its radio circuits prior to World War I. [1] [2] SSB first entered commercial service in January 7, 1927 on the longwave transatlantic public radiotelephone circuit between New York and London. The high power SSB transmitters were located at Rocky Point, New York and Rugby, England. The receivers were in very quiet locations in Houlton, Maine and Cupar Scotland.[3]
SSB was also used over long-distance telephone lines, as part of a technique known as frequency-division multiplexing. (FDM) was pioneered by telephone companies in the 1930s. This enabled many voice channels to be sent down a single physical circuit. The use of SSB meant that the channels could be spaced (usually) just 4,000 Hz apart, while offering a speech bandwidth of nominally 300 – 3,400 Hz.
Amateur radio operators began to seriously experiment with SSB after World War II. It has become a de facto standard for long-distance voice radio transmissions since then.
In telecommunications, frequency modulation (FM) conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its frequency (contrast this with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant). In analog applications, the instantaneous frequency of the carrier is directly proportional to the instantaneous value of the input signal. Digital data can be sent by shifting the carrier's frequency among a set of discrete values, a technique known as frequency-shift keying.
AM
Single-sideband modulation (SSB) is a refinement of amplitude modulation that more efficiently uses electrical power and bandwidth. It is closely related to vestigial sideband modulation (VSB) (see below).
Amplitude modulation produces a modulated output signal that has twice the bandwidth of the original baseband signal. Single-sideband modulation avoids this bandwidth doubling, and the power wasted on a carrier, at the cost of somewhat increased device complexity.
The first U. S. patent for SSB modulation was applied for on 1 December, 1915 by John Renshaw Carson. Patent 1,449,382, titled "Method and Means for Signaling with High Frequency Waves" was awarded to Carson on March 27, 1923 and assigned to AT&T.
The U.S. Navy experimented with SSB over its radio circuits prior to World War I. [1] [2] SSB first entered commercial service in January 7, 1927 on the longwave transatlantic public radiotelephone circuit between New York and London. The high power SSB transmitters were located at Rocky Point, New York and Rugby, England. The receivers were in very quiet locations in Houlton, Maine and Cupar Scotland.[3]
SSB was also used over long-distance telephone lines, as part of a technique known as frequency-division multiplexing. (FDM) was pioneered by telephone companies in the 1930s. This enabled many voice channels to be sent down a single physical circuit. The use of SSB meant that the channels could be spaced (usually) just 4,000 Hz apart, while offering a speech bandwidth of nominally 300 – 3,400 Hz.
Amateur radio operators began to seriously experiment with SSB after World War II. It has become a de facto standard for long-distance voice radio transmissions since then.
CCRane CC Radio Plus SW
I just received a reply from C Crane Co. - Their CC Radio Plus SW is Chinese garbage (my words, not theirs, of course).
I'll be looking for a good German or Dutch radio but not that [Wash My Mouth]!
I'll be looking for a good German or Dutch radio but not that [Wash My Mouth]!
“Conspiracy Theories Are Wisps of Smoke From Fires That Cannot Be Seen” - The Watchman (2024)
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whitewolf
WHILE PONDERING THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN
THOSE OF US LIKEMINDED MEMBERS OF THIS FORUM IN THE DAYS
IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING A DISASTER....
I REALIZED THAT COMM WILL BE IN SHORT SUPPLY AND AM
SUGGESTING THE USE OF 12 VOLT SINGLE SIDEBAND RECIEVERS
PROBABLY USED ONLY IN THE EVENING WHEN PROPOGATION IS AT ITS
BEST AND PROBABLY AT THE UPPER MOST END OF THE FREQUENCY
SPECTRUM OF THE C. B. BAND WHICH ARE USED LESS BUT NOT
ILLEGAL HAM FREQUENCIES (MONITORED MORE) AND OF
COURSE SIDEBAND ONLY LIMITED TO SHORT PERIODS OF TIME.
PROBABLY ON PREPLANNED FREQUENCIES...
SIDE BAND RADIOS ARE THE ONLY AFFORDABLE COMM. THAT I KNOW
THAT HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR COMM ALL THE WAY ACROSS
AMERICA.....POTENTIAL BUT NEVER A SURE THING ......
THOSE OF US LIKEMINDED MEMBERS OF THIS FORUM IN THE DAYS
IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING A DISASTER....
I REALIZED THAT COMM WILL BE IN SHORT SUPPLY AND AM
SUGGESTING THE USE OF 12 VOLT SINGLE SIDEBAND RECIEVERS
PROBABLY USED ONLY IN THE EVENING WHEN PROPOGATION IS AT ITS
BEST AND PROBABLY AT THE UPPER MOST END OF THE FREQUENCY
SPECTRUM OF THE C. B. BAND WHICH ARE USED LESS BUT NOT
ILLEGAL HAM FREQUENCIES (MONITORED MORE) AND OF
COURSE SIDEBAND ONLY LIMITED TO SHORT PERIODS OF TIME.
PROBABLY ON PREPLANNED FREQUENCIES...
SIDE BAND RADIOS ARE THE ONLY AFFORDABLE COMM. THAT I KNOW
THAT HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR COMM ALL THE WAY ACROSS
AMERICA.....POTENTIAL BUT NEVER A SURE THING ......
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whitewolf
In light of the presidents speech, facing economic colapse I dont know how much longer I'll have my job because thats where I use my email (having none at home yet but trying hard to get it ) but my second choice of communications will be high frequencies of the C B band (single side band ) upper and lower channel 40 ........ Hate to lose contact with the people who Ive found friendship with here on this site......
Bob
Bob